You’re Gonna Die, Your Logins Shouldn’t

Natalia Parker never thought she’d find herself as the co-founder of a tech startup focused on estate planning. Yet, here she is alongside Tatiana Thirstston, building what they’ve coined as the tech plan for digital assets. It's a journey that began with two pivotal life experiences, marked by the personal and professional challenges that so many encounter but seldom discuss.

It was during the midst of the COVID pandemic when Natalia was juggling roles for a home builder and a manufacturing company led by an ailing entrepreneur. “If he passes away, there's no way like his kids could just simply inherit the business,” she found herself thinking. The flood of online accounts and digital assets hanging in the balance was a tangible representation of untapped chaos—the kind where financial stability, family legacy, and digital imprints intertwined but were dangerously unmanaged. That realization was paired with Natalia's own experience visiting an estate planning attorney, where she left with the sinking feeling that she’d arranged something legally binding but had no practical plan for guiding her executor through the labyrinth of her digital life.

Tatiana, on the other hand, was grappling with a divorce and realized just how scattered and overlooked digital assets could be. These shared revelations sparked their mission. Their company, Dexit—short for digital exit—aims to be the missing piece in conventional estate planning by offering a comprehensive plan for digital closure, memorialization, or asset transfer.

At the heart of their business model lies one undeniable truth: we live in a digital age, yet the planning around our digital footprints is lagging far behind. "Your accounts are immortal even though you aren't," Natalia enthuses, encapsulating their mission in a single line.

Starting their business wasn’t straightforward, though. “We redid our website a million times, our messaging, our client discovery,” Natalia admits. The learning curve was steep, punctuated by discovering how little they initially knew. But they were not alone; the entrepreneurial networks in Charlotte provided fertile ground for their growth. They took advantage of think tanks, won a grant courtesy of NC Idea, and benefited from legal insights from prestigious institutions like Duke and Elon Universities.

As they navigated the startup world, they learned a valuable lesson: “You only learn by failing.” Each iteration brought them closer to a viable solution and their own distinct niche in the market. Bridging the gap between estate planning and digital assets required not just a tech solution but also a broad educational effort. Their mission is clear—to prevent the digital chaos Natalia encountered from dragging others down paths of uncertainty and loss.

Dexit focuses on two types of customers: direct consumers like you and professional estate planners. But as Tatiana and Natalia quickly realized, most potential clients are oblivious to their needs until it’s too late. There's an entire sphere of forgotten digital assets—from domain names to family photos stored in Dropbox—at risk of vanishing if the unthinkable happens.

The co-founders are adamant about not becoming another password vault. Instead, they offer a directive plan that customers can update and store securely—a living document guiding the who, what, and how of digital assets when one’s life chapter closes.

As they look toward the future, it’s the detective work that excites Natalia the most—untangling new challenges and uncovering digital footprints fraught with potential. For Tatiana, it’s the unpredictable innovation that keeps her going. "You never know what tech will throw at you next," she says with a glint of excitement.

In a world where digital lives overlap heavily with the physical, Natalia and Tatiana are paving a path few have ventured down. Their company offers not just a service but peace of mind for a future that’s, by its very nature, uncertain.

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